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Rochester is more affluent and has a better economy than either Syracuse or Buffalo.
If you're interested in suburbs, that's also another area that Rochester clearly shines over the other two. For the most part, Rochester's suburbs are just plain nicer.
I'd recommend pretty much any suburb, you can't go wrong with any. But mostly I'd say look at Webster, Penfield, Fairport, Pittsford, Brighton, West Irondequoit or Victor. All nice towns, all good school districts.
I'd put East Aurora, Orchard Park, Clarence & Williamville up against any "affluent" suburbs Rochester has to offer.
I'd put East Aurora, Orchard Park, Clarence & Williamville up against any "affluent" suburbs Rochester has to offer.
They're all very nice, but I myself would prefer Webster, Penfield, Fairport, Pittsford, Perinton, Mendon and Victor. That's a huge area of Rochester suburbia that is quite nice and affluent and all connected.
I'd put East Aurora, Orchard Park, Clarence & Williamville up against any "affluent" suburbs Rochester has to offer.
Same with DeWitt, The Fayetteville-Manlius and Cazenovia connection to the East of Syracuse and the Westhill, West Genesee, Marcellus and Skaneateles connection to the West of Syracuse. Some may add the Amherst, Williamsville and Clarence conglomerate in the Buffalo area can be put up there in terms of school districts as well.
What about Hamburg? I always thought Hamburg had just as nice of homes as the rest of the nicer Buffalo suburbs.
While it definitely has affluent areas Hamburg is more of a middle class suburb which I in no way mean as a knock as I live in Hamburg & love it here. Lancaster is a very nice middle class suburb too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod
Same with DeWitt, The Fayetteville-Manlius and Cazenovia connection to the East of Syracuse and the Westhill, West Genesee, Marcellus and Skaneateles connection to the West of Syracuse. Some may add the Amherst, Williamsville and Clarence conglomerate in the Buffalo area can be put up there in terms of school districts as well.
Clarence & Orchard Park are very good school districts too, in fact pretty much all outer ring Buffalo suburbs have excellent schools.
They're all very nice, but I myself would prefer Webster, Penfield, Fairport, Pittsford, Perinton, Mendon and Victor. That's a huge area of Rochester suburbia that is quite nice and affluent and all connected.
... and thats fine. I just wanted to point out that Buffalo (and Syracuse) have very safe & charming suburbs too as it seemed like this thread had turned into Rochester's suburbs are great & Buffalo's are s&*t ...... which isn't even close to the truth.
I personally prefer the Buffalo area because it has more of the things I like to do (pro sports & skiing) & its proximity to Toronto ....... but to each his own.
... and thats fine. I just wanted to point out that Buffalo (and Syracuse) have very safe & charming suburbs too as it seemed like this thread had turned into Rochester's suburbs are great & Buffalo's are s&*t ...... which isn't even close to the truth.
I personally prefer the Buffalo area because it has more of the things I like to do (pro sports & skiing) & its proximity to Toronto ....... but to each his own.
Oh if I came off that way I certainly didn't mean to. Buffalo and Syracuse have excellent suburbs. All 3 do.
For my two cents - when I lived in Buffalo I was single and childless, but I didn't find it a bad place at all. Sure, there are areas I wouldn't take the kids for a stroll in, but I would check it out for myself before listening to horror stories. If you stuck to the north parts of it (Amherst, etc.) there's some nicer areas. They're not fancy but it's not bad either - and it's not far at all from some little villagey types of places towards the east. You'll pretty much know immediately when you hit a neighborhood that's less than ideal - those are pretty obviously "bad" neighborhoods. The only parts I've found to be kind of dumps were... oh my, I can't believe I'm forgetting, it's been a while, but I think it was the Cheektowaga area and so-called "suburbs" (I'd say neighborhooods) to the south.
And there's plenty to do - with kids or otherwise. And there's Niagara, Toronto, you can go camping, drive out and look at farms, the zoo, Six Flags, go to concerts, etc. There really is a lot to do for a family.
Rochester is more affluent but I'm not really that familiar with it. I honestly don't know what all the hype about Syracuse is about - it's not a bad place at all but I don't see why it's ranked so much higher than Buffalo. Syracuse has its bad neighborhoods too.
For my two cents - when I lived in Buffalo I was single and childless, but I didn't find it a bad place at all. Sure, there are areas I wouldn't take the kids for a stroll in, but I would check it out for myself before listening to horror stories. If you stuck to the north parts of it (Amherst, etc.) there's some nicer areas. They're not fancy but it's not bad either - and it's not far at all from some little villagey types of places towards the east. You'll pretty much know immediately when you hit a neighborhood that's less than ideal - those are pretty obviously "bad" neighborhoods. The only parts I've found to be kind of dumps were... oh my, I can't believe I'm forgetting, it's been a while, but I think it was the Cheektowaga area and so-called "suburbs" (I'd say neighborhooods) to the south.
And there's plenty to do - with kids or otherwise. And there's Niagara, Toronto, you can go camping, drive out and look at farms, the zoo, Six Flags, go to concerts, etc. There really is a lot to do for a family.
Rochester is more affluent but I'm not really that familiar with it. I honestly don't know what all the hype about Syracuse is about - it's not a bad place at all but I don't see why it's ranked so much higher than Buffalo. Syracuse has its bad neighborhoods too.
All 3 have their bad neighborhoods, but out of the 3, Syracuse has the lowest crime rate. To be honest, the differences between the 3 are not huge at all, except for Syracuse being a bit smaller as a metro in terms of population.
All 3 have their bad neighborhoods, but out of the 3, Syracuse has the lowest crime rate. To be honest, the differences between the 3 are not huge at all, except for Syracuse being a bit smaller as a metro in terms of population.
This...
If you were going to have to "rank" them on livability there would only be marginal differences; however I'd put it like this..
If you are talking about living strictly within city limits...I'd rank them as such;.... Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester
If you are talking about niceness and livability of suburbs; then I'd say it goes;
Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo
But again, all three are much more similar than different in the big picture (Buffalo and Rochester probably having more in common with each other than either do with Syracuse though). So I'd say go where you find good employment, and where you get the best feeling of community.
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